Stuart's Spartans: Devil's Wrath
by AidanPryde
Summary: Year: 3058. Follow Jacob Olsen, XO of Stuart's Spartans Mercenary Company. Venture with them as both man and machine are tested in the fires of battle on the most dangerous mission to date for the Spartans. Will they survive the wrath of the FWL? R&R.
1. Part I: The early assault

Author's Note/Disclaimer: I own nothing here aside from the characters and the plot. Everything else is property of Microsoft, FASA, Wizkids, or whoever the heck owns Battletech at this particular point in time. Neither do I own the other series or shows that might find references in this story.

This is my first large publications so please review, it would be much appreciated.

[3025 Since the signing of the Concord of Kapteyn, the Free Worlds League has opened up its trade routes with both the Draconis Combine. Initially this trade was primarily restricted to art and luxury items, such as alcohol, jade, gold and bronze jewelry, and ceremonial weaponry. This traffic has since escalated to include industrial goods and heavy equipment of all kinds, including military hardware.

Devil's Rock is one of the worlds within Marik space that this trade is centered on. The starport cities on this world contain magnificent bazaars, teeming with merchant houses, wholesalers, and speculators who can find a profitable market (legal or otherwise) for virtually any commodity.

[3057 As part of Operation Guerrero, the Third Free Worlds Guards landed on Devil's Rock expecting to encounter minimal resistance from the planetary garrison. This assumption proved to be false; the Third quickly found itself embroiled in bitter street-to-street fighting in the capital of Forest City. In just four hours, the Guards lost two lances of 'Mechs to Federated Commonwealth missiles; total losses amounted to nineteen 'Mechs before the Marik troops finally crushed the resistance.

_Pride of Sparta _DropShip

2G burn towards Devil's Rock,

Federated Commonwealth-Free Worlds League boarder

May 16, 3058

Battle-Station alarms rang throughout the DropShip. Jacob "Ice" Olsen sprinted through the _Pride of Sparta_'s mechbay and began to climb the gantry towards the cockpit of his _Devastator_ assault mech. Looking over at his cousin, Jacob smirked and snapped off a sloppy salute as he slid into the command couch and began to run the startup sequence. "Name and Rank please" cooed the computerized voice in his cockpit. "Jacob Olsen, XO Stuart's Spartans." "Please state the code phrase." "Come home with your shield or upon it" replied Jack. "Identity Confirmed. Weapon systems unlocked; happy hunting, Commander." "Why thank you Marilyn" Jacob quipped back to the computer voice with a chuckle.

Below him, his cousin and the rest of the company's warriors raced to their mechs and vehicles to strap-in and power up as well. Jacob looked out his viewscreen with pride at the disciplined warriors powering up their weapons of war and thought back to the beginnings of the unit, his pride and joy…

Four years ago, Jacob had been approached by his cousin, Frank Stuart, who had disappeared for 4 years after high school. Frank had the crazy idea of starting up their own group of mercenaries. Both cousins had showed aptitude for piloting mechs in the militia simulators they had been afforded access to in their teen years. Instead of going into the militia or military, Frank had vanished off-planet and Jacob had taken up a job piloting loader-mechs at the local spaceport. To Jacob, the idea of becoming a mercenary had immediately seemed preferable to spending the rest of his life on Addicks working his current job the rest of his life.

Finding a sponsor was tough, even on the Merc stronghold of Outreach. Rejection after rejection plagued the cousins, but they were finally able to find a willing sponsor. They were able to convince the Dragon's Teeth mercenary regiment to sponsor them in their risky venture. The Dragon's Teeth, founded before the 4th Succession War, and was well endowed with monetary assets due to its multiple branches including a Solaris stable, mercenary division, battlemech factory, and immensely wealthy founder Harold Janson. The sponsors had procured a new Hamilcar-class DropShip, a mixed lance of mechs, and a lance of armor for the cousins and helped them find crews and a short-term garrison contract to get them started. With Frank as the CO, Jacob as the XO, and a new bunch of pilots ready to take their weapons of war into the field, Stuart's Spartans were born.

Things had started off well. The first garrison contract paid well and was uneventful enough to give Frank and Jacob time to train their pilots and look for other employers. After the 6-month garrison stint on Hunan, the Spartans had been hired by the Capellan Confederation for some small-scale raids against the St. Ives Compact as well as a short-term garrison job among the Cap-Con planets close to the Chaos March…not particularly because of the unit's quality but more because of their availability. During these contracts, the Spartans performed well on the field and were able to minimize their losses/damages and even pick up a 95 ton _Nightstar_ as salvage.

Unfortunately, it was their last contract that had put the Spartans in their current pickle. In mid-3057, Frank had contracted with the government of Summer (in the Lyran portion of the Fed-Com) for a 4-month garrison to cover the planet while Fed-Com garrisons were shuffled around. During that time, planetary elections were held and Skye separatists were able to gain a majority in the planetary government. Seeing the presence of the Spartans as a threat to their power and agenda, the Separatists promptly cancelled the contract, defaulted on payment for time served, and used the planetary militia to "suggest" that the Spartans leave the planet. Needless to say that late on the day the Spartans' departed, the Summer militia discovered a pair of 35 ton _Firestarter_ battlemechs absent from their hanger bays. Unfortunately, not being paid put Frank and Jacob in a very tight spot financially, especially with the next payment to the Dragon's Teeth due soon.

This would be the first true assault undertaken by the Spartans. Normally Frank would have avoided contracts like this, but the Fed-Com's needed help and they were paying well for it…extremely well if it was successful too. With all luck, the assault on Devil's Rock to reclaim it from the FWL forces wouldn't take more than a few months and the Spartans could collect their pay voucher and salvage.

Devil's Rock is a very curious planet. Approximately the size of Mars, it has very little axial tilt, and so the middle-range of the planet is constantly exposed to the harsh sun, leaving the tropics a wasteland of deserts and barren mountain ranges. The planet has no polar ice caps and only moderate amounts of surface water which can be found in the more tropical higher latitudes. Forrest City, the planetary capital and primary spaceport is located in the northern tropical zone along with most of the planet's industry and military facilities. The southern topical zone played host to most of Devil's Rock's small amount of agriculture as well as many mining facilities amongst the foothills of the giant chain of mountains referred to by natives as 'The Wall'.

Currently, the Spartans were burning towards Devil's Rock at 2Gs as part of a pieced together battalion of mercenaries along with the entirety of the 4th Fed-Com RCT. Their goal: crush the 3rd Free Worlds Guards and reclaim Devil's Rock for the Federated Commonwealth. Intelligence believed that the 3rd Guards were the only Marik forces on planet and would be concentrated around the northern cities and industries with only a handful of troops keeping the FWL presence in the south.

The mercenaries were to be under the command of an officer appointed by the RCT to simplify command issues caused by having multiple independent units working in such close proximity to each other. They were tasked with clearing the southern towns and mining facilities of any FWL troops that may have taken up positions there. The 4th RCT, meanwhile, was to take the northern zone and duke it out with the 3rd Guards over the spaceport, capital, and other primary cities.

_Pride of Sparta_ was now entering atmosphere with her precious load of warriors. CO Frank 'Skipper' Stuart sat strapped into the command couch of his 95 ton _Nightstar_. He flipped on his comm. system and selected the company-wide band. "Alright Spartans, you're all professionals so none of this pep-talk crap. You all know the mission and the risks. We'll be hitting the base of the foothills for 'The Wall' and making our way towards Bakersfield 40 klicks to the west while checking all the mines on the way. Intel says there shouldn't be any more than 2 companies of the 3rd Guard in the region but we all know what Intel is like. Keep your eyes open and watch your backs. Read up and call in."

"Ice. Ready Op" said Jacob as he finished strapping into his _Devastator_. He was followed by Dave MacIntosh in his _Cestus_; "Grogg here. Ready to kick ass and take names." "Mobius; Ready to roll." called Kyle from his _Caesar_. Similar calls came from Shannon 'Raven' Blackwood in her _Centurion_, Nick 'Frog' Kearns in his _Dart_, Taylor 'Tribal' Jones and his brother Clifton 'Storm' in their _Firestarters_, and Dan 'Caboose' Kastor and his lance of the mixed company's armor assets.

"Spartan Lead, this is Major Spruance. The Shadow Lancers have completed their hot-drop and have secured the LZ. You are clear to bring in your unit for deployment." "Roger Major, Spartans coming in for deployment. You heard the Major, Rowland, let's park the _Pride_ and start getting unloaded" said Skipper to the captain of the _Pride_. The _Pride of Sparta_ set down on the savannah near the southern edge of the DZ. With a metallic groan, the dropbay doors slid open to allow the Spartans' two mech lances and lance of armor to disembark and take up perimeter positions.

It was quite an impressive sight to see the mixed mercenary battalion taking up positions. All in all there were four units hired to comprise this strike-force. Of course there was Stuart's Spartans, but there was also a company of medium and heavy jump-capable mechs from the Shadow Lancers, a company of battlemechs and two lances of tanks and hovercraft from the Restless Souls mercenary battalion, and two lances of mechs from the Arcani Guards. This combined firepower gave the mercenary command a battalion of battlemechs and an under-strength battalion of armor.

Last minute orders were issued and two columns departed the DZ for their respective objectives. Stuart's Spartans were to head to the west with their mechs and armor to check the mining facilities in that direction and to secure the town of Bakersfield. The Shadow Lancers were to take their company and head southeast towards a small city and its accompanying militia base 100 klicks away. Restless Souls were tasked to head north-northwest with their mechs and one lance of armor to secure a metalwork factory on a mining base compound approximately 50 klicks into the foothills. The Arcani Guard remained behind with a lance of Restless Soul armor and the lance (2) of aerospace fighters and the squadron (6) of Nightshade VTOLs brought by the Lancers to guard the dropships and act as a mobile reserve if the need arose.

The Spartans were over 20 klicks from the dropships and there had been no sign of resistance so far. There were no signs of mechs, vehicles, even civilian vehicles…while some of the other pilots might think this was becoming a cakewalk, Jacob was nervous. The Free Worlders had had over 6, almost 7, months to rearm themselves and dig in. Also, it had been a six day burn to get planet-side and it shouldn't have been difficult to guess where the landing zones were going to be. While the Southern Hemisphere was less important than the cities and spaceports in the north, it was still necessary to hold to retain possession of Devil's Rock. Since there was no reported aerospace assets planet-side, there should have been some signs of a recon team scouting the DZ and intended routes…it's not as if there was doubt what the primary targets would be if an assault were to take place.

30 klicks from the dropships, two mining facilities checked, and a grand total of nothing. The mines were abandoned and it was clear that there had been no human activity for at least a few weeks. The Spartans still had another two mines to scout and then Bakersfield to capture and occupy. Shannon 'Raven' Blackwood and her Lightning Lance found the next mine to be the same as the first two with no signs of life or that anyone had been in the area for the past few weeks. However, the fourth mine (a strip mine), the one closest to Bakersfield, did have fresh tracks and recent activity in it, but visual and Magnetic Scans couldn't turn up anything solid.

"Skipper, Caboose. The Scimitars report visual on a medium lance in 3rd Guards colors hauling ass towards Bakersfield from the north" came the sudden call over comms. "Roger that Caboose. Let's roll Spartans. Form up and get moving" replied Frank. At this point the company was only 6 klicks from town, so within moments the column eased itself over the last hill and Jacob found himself looking down over a kilometer wide valley of fields that ended just before reaching the hillside town of Bakersfield. It looked like there was activity on the hilltop though, and in Jacob's mind that could mean anything. "Skipper, it's open field 'til we hit the town. That lance will beat us to it and I think there's activity on the hilltop, but magnification isn't helping any" said Ice.

"Gotcha, Ice. Alright Spartans, Marathon formation and advance at the walk. Caboose, see if your Scimitars can get close enough to tell what's on that hill, but don't risk'em yet" ordered Skipper. With these orders, the Spartans quickly took up a formation pioneered by the ancient Athenians nearly 3500 years before. Lightning Lance and the Alacorn Mk VI and Challenger X tanks of Beast Lance took up the center of the line. Meanwhile Thunder Lance split to take the ends with Skipper and Mobius on the left with their _Nightstar _and _Caesar_ while Ice and Grogg covered the right with their _Devastator_ and _Cestus._ In this line they started to advance over the field as the company's Scimitar hovercraft came scurrying back to the line chased by a pair of Cicada battlemechs.

At 40 tons each, the pair of _Cicadas_ was severely outclassed by the line they were closing in on, but they were equal to the Scimitars in speed and superior in firepower. Already the Hover Tanks had scorch marks from hits by the _Cicadas_' medium lasers. The Free World pilots were sloppy, however. At 130kph, the tanks and chasing mechs had closed to within 700 meters of the advancing Spartans and showed total focus on their targets. One of the mechs finally got lucky and put a pair of UAC5 rounds into the engine compartment of one of the Scimitars, causing it to lose lift and take a nose-dive into the field. Ice flipped on his comms "Alright lady and gents, target is on the left. Volley on my mark. And MARK!" With that word, the _Cicada_ on the left disintegrated into a nuclear fireball as it was struck by 10 Gauss Slugs, 4 PPCs, and an assortment of lasers. A bit of overkill in Ice's opinion, but it certainly put down a mech with minimal effort.

The other _Cicada_, noticing the expanding ball of debris and atoms that used to be his lancemate, quickly decided to do the honorable deed and run away as fast as possible. Normally Ice would have had no problem letting the pilot get away, but a contract is a contract, and resistance needed to be eliminated. Ice lined up the shot and put a Gauss slug high up on the other _Cicada_'s back, sending the mech face first into the ground. Skipper then proceeded to walk his _Nightstar_ over and stand on the _Cicada_'s legs, crushing them and making sure the mech wasn't going anywhere. "Caboose, leave the Challenger here and guard the salvage…I mean prisoner…If he moves or fights, slag his cockpit" called Skipper. "Roger that boss man, consider it done" came the reply.

All the sudden Ice's cockpit was filled with the warning tones of incoming missiles and his _Devastator_ was rocking from impacts. "Pair of _Lineholders_ and a pair of LRM Tracks on top of the hill" called Grogg. "This is Skipper. All Spartan units close to the town and break off by pairs. Get those mechs and tracks before they get us out here. Meet you at the top. Mobius, you're with me." Fortunately for the Spartans, Bakersfield was a small town of no more than a thousand, so routes of movement through town, though few in number, were short. The streets in Bakersfield could only hold a pair of mechs at best and they followed the various contours of the hill, limiting line of sight and movement, turning a hilltop assault into an urban brawl for the brief time it would take to clear the buildings.

As the Spartans hit the town under a rain of missiles, Ice and Grogg broke off to take one of the larger streets through town. "Ice, I'll take point" he called. Almost immediately they hit a roadside ambush and had to bring down the buildings to eliminate the infantry within. About half way through the town, there came a tremendous explosion to Ice and Grogg's left. "What the bloody hell was that!?" came a shout from Mobius. Raven quickly piped up "The twins found an SRM carrier nestled in a cul-de-sac and decided to start a bonfire." Ice just shook his head. Leave it to the Jones twins in their _Firestarters_ to make a scene.

Grogg and Ice had made it about halfway through the town when they came to a bottleneck in the road. The path up the hill was too narrow to safely accommodate two large battlemechs. Ice told Grogg to keep going on the current road and turned his _Devastator_ to resume his accent a few blocks over. Continuing his way slowly up the steep grade, Ice suddenly found his mech rocking with explosions and having to drop to a knee to avoid falling over into an apartment complex. Swinging his torso around to the right, Ice saw a 70 ton Typhoon Urban Assault Vehicle hiding behind a building.

Firing off his four medium lasers and a PPC, scorching the Marik tank's turret, Ice tried to get back on both feet but only got partway up before falling back to a knee under a torrent of 30 SRMs, pulse lasers, and an LBX 20. Growling in frustration, Ice fired off his medium lasers again, scoring the armor of the wheeled tank. With a loud crack, both of Ice's Gauss Rifles fired their supersonic projectiles at the target not more than 50 meters distant. One of the shots crashed into the body of the tank, punching through to wreak havoc inside the vehicle, while the second shot glanced off the turret and crashed into an office building further down the alley. The Typhoon retaliated with another volley of missiles, pocking the torso armor of its 100 ton opponent, and shot off another cluster round from its LBX, tearing gashes into the left torso of the _Devastator_. Ice was now thoroughly pissed and with a shout fired off both PPCs and all four lasers and gasped for air at the sudden blast of scalding air from a taxed reactor. One off the PPC shots and three of the lasers burned holes into the turret while one of the lasers missed high. The other PPC, however, hit a reloading SRM pack, detonating the missiles and causing a chain detonation of the launchers, shredding the missile launchers as well as the interior of the tank as the ammunition supply cooked off.

"You alright there Ice?" came a call from Grogg as he rounded the corner a hundred meters up the road. "Just fine…thanks for the assist" replied Ice with a tint of sarcasm as he managed to pull his dented mech back into a standing position. "Marik must really want this place bad, I didn't think that those new Typhoons were 'expendable' so soon off the factory line" laughed Grogg as he took a glimpse at the burning wreckage. "Yeah, I didn't think that Marik would have his grubby little hands on any of these yet either, but I wish that we could afford one." "I hear that boss. Now let's get moving or Skipper is going to beat everyone to the top and hog all the fun and explosions for himself, ha-ha."

Unfortunately, by the time Ice and Grogg made it to the top of the hill most of the action was over. One of the LRM tracks lay spread around the hilltop as little pieces of shrapnel while the crew of the second sat outside their machine under the guns of Raven's and Frog's mechs. Of the two_ Lineholders_, the one closest to Ice was a standing pillar of flame, the pilot obviously cooked to a crisp inside the cockpit, and the other lay unmoving on its back.

"Well what took you guys so long? We dang near sent the twins out looking for you" called Skipper over comms. "Sorry for taking so long Skip. I stumbled across a nasty little Marik surprise by the apartments" replied Ice. "You guys couldn't have saved any fun for us?" "Nope!" came the merry reply from the twins.

"Alright smartasses, hush up" called Skipper. "Twins, keep an eye on the prisoners. Raven, Frog, 3 klick perimeter sweep. I want to know who's in the area, what direction they're in, and guesstimates on strength. Check in every 10 minutes. Grogg, Mobius, sentry positions on the earthworks. Caboose, get that Challenger and Scimitar back on our salvage but get your lazy arse up here a.s.a.p. Ice, center and dismount; it's time for a huddle. Grogg, you're in charge for the moment." A chorus of affirmatives came back over comms, sending mechs and vehicles into motion.

Ice and Skipper brought their assault-mechs to the center of the hilltop, put them in standby, and dismounted. "What's on your mind Frank? You have that tone to your voice" called Jake as he climbed down from the cockpit. "Eh, there's probably too much on my mind right now Jake. Called in to mercenary command that we achieved our objectives. We're to hold the town to draw in any Marik forces that might be in the area. The amount of c-bills this town generates from the local mines is too much to leave it in our hands" replied Frank.

"There's something else, isn't there?" "Yeah, there is, cousin. The RCT has hit unexpectedly high resistance around Forrest City. Reports are they've seen mechs and vehicles in unit colors other than the 3rd Free Worlds Guards, but they haven't been able to identify the color scheme or any unit markings. That means there's at least one other unit on planet…and I don't like it."

Frank continued, "The Souls are still securing the plant to the north. Apparently they hit some militia resistance and are still conducting mop-ups. The Lancers had to detour around some swamps so they likely won't get to their objective 'til morning. Command is sending us our dropship as soon as all the objectives are secure and then they're pulling the Arcani Guard up north to help the RCT folks, so we'll be on our own."

"Well," replied Jacob, "if we're to hold any piece of land, I'd rather it be this piece. I mean look at it! Decent sized river to the west, flood plain for at least a few hundred meters in every direction around the hill, almost a kilometer if you are looking east. Next closest hills to the north and south are shorter and a good 300 to 400 meters from the base of this one. We are sitting on a 300 meter tall fortress with a big enough clearing to land a dropship on top of it! If they're going to come in any sizable force, they're going to have to come from the east over the plain and through the town…not exactly the most ideal terrain to cover when you have weapon fire raining down on you the whole time. We were just lucky that it was a small force that wasn't as prepared as they could have been, otherwise Dani and her techs would hurt more of us for messing up our mechs."

"Very true Jake. You know Dani is going to hurt you bad for making her replace that torso armor. But you're right, they could have been more prepared. As is we're lucky that they had started to dig in up here. But at least they were generous enough to give us a fully operational LRM carrier. And with the crazy techs we have, we might even be able to scavenge one of those _Lineholders_. Nice mechs those _Lineholders_. Just released at the beginning of the year if memory serves; getting one of those working would be a good haul."

"Hey boss, Raven's on the mic for you" said Grogg over his external speakers. "Jake, you take this one, I gotta go take a piss." "You go and do that" laughed Jake. Climbing back up to his cockpit, Jake put his neurohelmet back on and keyed up Raven's frequency. "Raven, Ice here. What's the report?" "Ice, we're about 4 and a half klicks north northeast of town. I have a landing site for two dropships within the past few weeks, you can still smell the burnt vegetation. Might be a few other landings but they'd be a few months old…it's hard to tell. The fresh landings mark at least a company of mechs and vehicles. There are a lot of tracks in the area so there's no way to guess just how many, but I can see footprints for at least 3 heavy or assault class mechs." "Roger Raven. Continue on patrol, but keep an extra eye out. If they're still local they're not going to take well to anyone finding their tracks. Finish up quick and get back to the hill." Jacob quickly climbed back down to the ground and ran over to Frank. "Skip, you're not going to like this….."

End Part 1. Thank you all for reading my first large attempt at a fic. Please review and tell me what you thought. Thanks. –AP

THUNDER LANCE (HEAVY/ASSAULT/COMMAND)

NSR-9J Nightstar (Pilot: Frank "Skipper" Stuart) 

_Mass: _95 tons

_Tech Base: _Inner Sphere

_Class: _Assault

_Chassis: _Norse-GM HeavyTRQ

_Power Plant: _Pitban 285 XL

_Cruising Speed: _32 kph

_Maximum Speed: _54 kph

_Armor: _Kellon Royalstar Heavy Type K

_Armament: _

2 Norse-Storm Model 7D Gauss Rifles

1 Defiance 1001 ER PPC

2 Defiance P5M Medium Pulse Lasers

1 Exostar Small Laser

_Manufacturer: _

GM BattleMechs

Norse-Storm Technologies Inc.

_Factory: _

Kathil

Solaris VII

_Communications System: _Tek Battlecomm

_Targeting and Tracking System: _DLK Type Phased Array Sensors

DVS-2 Devastator (Pilot: Jacob "Ice" Olsen) 

_Mass: _100 tons

_Tech Base: _Inner Sphere

_Class: _Assault

_Chassis: _Star League XT

_Power Plant: _Vlar 300 XL

_Cruising Speed: _32 kph

_Maximum Speed: _54 kph

_Armor: _Durallex Heavy

_Armament: _

2 Poland Main Model A Gauss Rifles

2 Donal Particle Projection Cannon

4 Intek Medium Lasers

_Manufacturer: _Norse-Storm BattleMechs, Inc.

_Factory: _Loxley

_Communications System: _Johnston Wide Band

_Targeting and Tracking System: _Rander Pinpoint-HY

CTS-6Y Cestus (Pilot: David "Grogg" MacIntosh) 

_Mass: _65 tons

_Tech Base: _Inner Sphere

_Class: _Heavy

_Chassis: _GM Heavy CVA

_Power Plant: _GM 260 XL

_Cruising Speed: _43 kph

_Maximum Speed: _65 kph

_Armor: _Durallex Special Heavy

_Armament: _

2 Defiance B3L Large Lasers

2 ChisComp 39 Medium Lasers

1 Poland Main Model A Gauss Rifle

_Manufacturer: _

General Motors

Blue Shot Weapons (under license)

_Factory: _

Kathil

Solaris VII

_Communications System: _TharHes Thalia HM-22

_Targeting and Tracking System: _Salamander Systems CommPhase Unit

CES-3R Caesar (Pilot: Kyle "Mobius" Edwards) 

_Mass: _70 tons

_Tech Base: _Inner Sphere

_Class: _Heavy

_Chassis: _Dorwinion Standard

_Power Plant: _General Motors 280 Extralight

_Cruising Speed: _43.2 kph

_Maximum Speed: _64.8 kph

_Armor: _Kallon Royalstar with CASE

_Armament: _

1 Poland Main Model A Gauss Cannon

1 Johnston High Speed Long-Range Particle Projection Cannon

4 Sutel Precision Line Medium Pulse Lasers

_Manufacturer: _Johnston Industries

_Factory: _New Syrtis

_Communications System: _Johnston Wide Band

_Targeting and Tracking System: _Rander Pinpoint-HY

LIGHTNING LANCE (LIGHT/MEDIUM/SCOUT)

CN9-D Centurion (Pilot: Shannon "Raven" Blackwood) 

_Mass: _50 tons

_Tech Base: _Inner Sphere

_Class: _Medium

_Chassis: _Corean Model KL77 Endo Steel

_Power Plant: _General Motors 300 Extralight

_Cruising Speed: _64.8 kph

_Maximum Speed: _90.7 kph

_Armor: _StarGuard III with CASE

_Armament: _

1 Mydron Excel LB 10-X Autocannon

1 Luxor 3R LRM-10

2 Photech 806c Medium Lasers

_Manufacturer: _

Corean Enterprises

Jalastar Aerospace

_Factory: _

New Avalon (Corean)

Panpour (Jalastar)

_Communications System: _Corean Transbanc-J9

_Targeting and Tracking System: _Corean B-Tech with Artemis IV System

FS9-S Firestarter x2 (Pilots: Taylor "Tribal" Jones, Clifton "Storm" Jones) 

_Mass: _35 tons

_Tech Base: _Inner Sphere

_Class: _Light

_Chassis: _Foundation Ultralight Endo Steel

_Power Plant: _Omni 210

_Cruising Speed: _64.8 kph

_Maximum Speed: _97.2 kph

_Jump Jets: _Luxor Load Lifters

_Jump Capacity: _180m

_Armor: _Durallex Nova

_Armament: _

4 Hotshot Flamers

2 Defiance B3M Medium Lasers

1 Diverse Optics Type 10 Small Laser

1 SureFire 444 Anti-Missile System

_Manufacturer: _Coventry Metal Works

_Factory: _Coventry

_Communications System: _Cyclops 14

_Targeting and Tracking System: _Cyclops-Beagle Sensory Probe

DRT-3S Dart (Pilot: Nick 'Frog' Kearns) 

_Mass: _25 tons

_Tech Base: _Inner Sphere

_Class: _Light

_Chassis: _Coventry Metal Works Model D-3

_Power Plant: _Vox 225

_Cruising Speed: _97 kph

_Maximum Speed: _151 kph

_Armor: _Lexington Limited

_Armament: _3 Magna 200P Small Pulse Lasers

_Manufacturer: _Coventry Metal Works

_Factory: _Coventry

_Communications System: _Cyclops 14

_Targeting and Tracking System: _Cyclops Mutli-Tasker 10

BEAST LANCE (VEHICLE/TANK)

Commander: Dan "Caboose" Kastor

Alacorn MK VI Heavy Tank (lance command vehicle) 

_Tech Base: _Inner Sphere

_Mass: _95 tons

_Movement Type: _Tracked

_Power Plant: _Pitban 285 XL Fusion Engine

_Cruising Speed: _32kph

_Flank Speed: _54kph

_Armor: _Star Guard Type VH

_Armament: _3 Norse-Storm Model-7D Gauss Rifles

_Manufacturer: _New Earth Trading Company

_Primary Factory: _New Earth

_Communications System: _CeresCom Recon Model 21-Rs

_Targeting and Tracking System: _TharHes Digital Scanlok 347

Challenger X MBT 

_Tech Base: _Inner Sphere

_Mass: _90 tons

_Movement Type: _Tracked

_Power Plant: _GM 270 XL Fusion

_Cruising Speed: _32kph

_Flank Speed: _54kph

_Armor: _Kallon Unity Weave Ferro-Fibrous

_Armament: _

1 Poland Main Model A Gauss Rifle

1 Imperator Code Red LB 10-X Autocannon

2 Martell Medium Pulse Lasers

2 Federated Super Streak SRM-2 Racks

1 Federated 10-Shot LRM Launcher

1 Exostar Small Pulse Laser

1 MainFire Point-Defense Anti-Missile System

_Manufacturer: _

Kallon Industries

General Motors

_Primary Factory: _Kirklin

_Communications System: _Wunderland XXV-2 Series

_Targeting and Tracking System: _Kallon Lock-On with Artemis FCS

Scimitar Medium Hover Tank x2 

_Tech Base: _Inner Sphere

_Mass: _35 tons

_Movement Type: _Hover

_Power Plant: _ConLee 105/I.C.E.

_Cruising Speed: _86kph

_Flank Speed: _130kph

_Armor: _ProtecTech 7

_Armament: _

1 Armstrong AutoCannon 5

2 Guided Technologies SRM 2

_Manufacturer: _Scarborough, Ltd.

_Communications System: _Scarborough Talky-2

_Targeting and Tracking System: _Scarborough Tracky-2

_-_---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hamilcar-class DropShip (Pride of Sparta) 

_Tech Base: _Inner Sphere

_Type: _Military Aerodyne

_Use: _Assault DropShip

_Tech: _Star League

_Introduced: _3054

_Mass: _3575 tons

_Length: _132m

_Width: _98m

_Height: _34m

_Fuel: _80 tons (480)

_Tons/Burn-day: _1.84

_Safe Thrust: _4

_Maximum Thrust: _6

_Heat Sinks: _56 (112)

_Structural Integrity: _9

_Cargo: _88 tons

_Escape Pods: _4

_Life Boats: _0

_Crew: _36

_Cost: _190000000

_Revenue/Mission: _150000

_Armament: _

4 ER Large Lasers

2 ER PPCs

2 Large Pulse Lasers

1 Gauss Rifle

3 LRM-15s with Artemis

3 LRM-20s with Artemis

2 SRM-4s with Artemis

Some of the links that I used for data and units if anyone is interested in checking them out:


	2. Part II: Fires of the Forge

Stuart's Spartans: Devil's Wrath Part 2

Author's note: again, I don't own anything aside from original characters, behavior, and plot…anything else I borrowed and do not own…especially any references to other shows that may pop up, repeatedly…

Rated T for violence and **language**…you have been forewarned.

----------------------------------

Overlooking the town of Bakersfield,  
Planet: Devil's Rock  
May 20, 3058

It had been four days of quiet, patrols, and waiting. Since the capture of Bakersfield and the other objectives on the 16th and 17th, there had been no reports of Marik troop activity in the Southern Hemisphere. Interviewing inhabitants of Bakersfield hadn't revealed anything. Most people had fled the settlement after the assault on the 16th. Witnessing an assault on their land and knowing that Marik retaliation was highly likely was enough incentive for all who could to flee.

With the Shadow Lancers having achieved their objective on the 17th and the continued deadlock in the north, Davion command had seen fit to pull the Arcani Guards to help the 4th RCT in the assault on Forrest City. With the departure of the mobile reserve, the dropships had been moved to support their respective units. The _Pride of Sparta_ now sat proudly on the top of the Spartans' fortress hill, looking down upon the open plains. Once the _Pride_ had touched down, the company's techs had wasted no time in securing what salvage they could. Currently, what was left of both _Lineholders_, the upper half of a _Cicada_, and an empty LRM carrier sat strapped in the cargo hold, unusable without additional parts, ammunition, or crews. The captured LRM crew and the pilot of the _Cicada_ were now making use of the _Pride_'s brig and armed guards.

True to expectations, Dani, the company's chief tech, had cuffed Jacob 'Ice' Olsen over the back of the head for the damage to his _Devastator_'s armor, but being the tech she is, fixed it anyway. Dan 'Caboose' Kastor hadn't escaped her wrath either. Neither had the crew of Scimitar B-3, the craft that had had its engine compartment gutted during the assault on the hill. It was quite humorous to see Caboose and the Scimitar crew cowering before Dani's temper. She had thrown a string of epitaphs at them that would have made any seasoned military veteran blanch and seek cover. It had been a laugh for the rest of the company…until Dani had turned her glare on the spectators and sent them scurrying.

Currently, all of the company's assets were up and running, with a patrol out every few hours to make sure Marik was keeping his head low. There was always a pair of mechs on guard duty, and the dropship crew was on standby ready to go to battle-stations within five minutes of first warning.

-----------------------

Jake was walking down the hallway of the _Pride_ towards his quarters when he was grabbed and pulled inside Frank's office. "What's the word, Frank?" "Not good, Jake, not good at all. Seems that Marik launched a counter-offensive this morning. The 4th RTC and the Arcani's are being hit hard and being pushed back. They identified the additional Marik unit aside from the 3rd Guards. It would appear that the 6th Oriente Hussars managed to sneak on planet and hide themselves until now. The 4th is taking moderate casualties, but their armor and infantry regiments are being hit hard. We'll be on our own unless they can throw back the Free Worlders."

Frank continued, "Restless Soul scouts have reported multiple radar contacts, but no sightings yet. I would expect that they'll have their hands full. Our mercenary liaison officer and the Lancers still haven't seen any activity, but locals have told them there's been at least a company of mechs and armor in their area within the past month, though they're not sure what unit. The hive has been shaken, it's just a matter of time to see whether they'll swarm or not."

"That is kinda disturbing, Frank. There any chance of getting the liaison or the Lancers to give us a fly-by to scout out the area?" "I'm not sure, but I'll look into it, Jake. It'd certainly make me feel better too. You better get going though, you're turn for guard duty is up and you wouldn't want to make Grogg wait too long, would you?" Jake shuddered at the memory of the prank Grogg pulled on him last time he had tried the man's patience for being late relieving him of shift. "Yeah, I should get going. Hit me up if any news comes back about that fly-by."

-------------------------

It was now 6:00 pm and Ice was on guard in his mech. Frog and Raven were out on patrol and all appeared quiet. The comm. channel crackled on. "Ice, it's Skipper. I'm patching through the battalion comm. channel to you. '…I repeat, this is Restless Souls to Battalion Command. We are under attack by Marik forces; at least battalion strength of battlemechs. We're holding for the moment, but we need assistance…'" Frank came back on the line "If they do pull back they'll likely head here. Get a second patrol out and keep both eyes open. I'll keep trying to reach battalion command, they aren't responding."

"Gotcha Skipper. Caboose, where you at?" "Ice, what are you babbling on about now?" came a yawned response over the channel. "Dangit Caboose, what have we told you about sleeping in the tanks?" "Who said anything about sleeping IN the tanks?" Ice turned his mech to the side and peered back towards the 95 ton Alacorn Mk VI tank that Caboose loved more than any of the females Ice had ever seen him chase after. The tank was parked to the side of the ramp leading up to the _Pride_'s mechbay. Caboose was lounging on a beach chair on top of the tank, in shorts, a bright green Hawaiian shirt, and a wide-brimmed hat over his headset, drinking a can of beer. "Kastor, you're supposed to be on guard duty, not having a day at the beach." "Oh but I am guarding, Ice. I'm guarding against monotony and sunburn! Even put on SPF 30!" "Fine then, get your Challenger to pull a double-shift. Get the Scimitars out on patrol to the northeast. There're reports of Marik forces attacking the Restless Souls out that way." "You got it chief."

Ice flipped frequencies. "Frog, Raven. Where are you two at in your patrol route?" "We're just hitting the end of the route to the south, Ice." "Alright, I know you two have been on patrol for awhile, but I need you to re-sweep from the east to the north of base. There's report of Marik activity and we don't know if any are local. Check in every 10." "Roger, Ice. Raven out."

Not more than 20 minutes later there came a panicked call over comms. "Ice, Skipper, anyone, it's Frog! Contact made with Marik forces due east. They're coming out of the mines! Two lances, mediums and heavies. SHIT! That was close! Looks to be at least another company coming in from further east, probably heavies and assaults. They jumped on us as we passed by. Raven's still up, but they shot her comm. antenna and she can only get LOS reception. We're inbound, ETA 4 minutes."

Ice snapped into action "Skipper, start'er up. Captain Rowland, battle-stations, we have incoming. Caboose, get those Scimitars back here, we'll need all the firepower we can get. Lock and load people!" He then flipped over to the lance frequency. "Grogg, to the line." "You got it bro, bring'em on!"

Moments later Frog and Raven came sprinting across the plain and up the hill towards the dropship and the safety of its guns. The rest of the company was slowly forming up behind the low trenches that the local FWL loyalist militia had dug. Pursuit, however, did not follow.

In the distance, just inside visual range, the Spartans could see the FWL mechs assembling for the inevitable attack; and attack they did. Five lances of medium to assault class mechs began to march across the field. A fire-support lance, consisting of a _Bombardier_, a _Catapult_, and a pair of _Archers_, held back from the main group and began to volley missiles towards their hilltop objective. The _Pride_ responded in kind, focusing its batteries of LRMs towards the oncoming targets, not enough to bring any mechs down at extreme range, but enough to spread some damage amongst the attackers.

Undeterred by the return fire, the other four lances of mechs continued their push towards the cover of Bakersfield. As they entered the extreme edge of effective targeting range, Ice dropped his crosshairs over an advancing _Hoplite_. With only an LBX-10 and an LRM-5, the _Hoplite_ wouldn't be an effective ranged fighter, but the LBX could do significant damage if it got close. Ice brought up his magnification and thumbed over to his pair of PPCs and fired. The azure beams sped across the distance to the Marik mech and gouged two large scars across its torso.

With a silvery flash a trio of gauss slugs impacted the damaged _Hoplite_. One sheered its left arm clean off, another shattered armor off the mech's left leg, and the third exploited a scar left by Ice's PPCs and crashed into the _Hoplite_'s interior, apparently hitting the LRM-5 ammunition bay, creating an explosion that spun the mech to the ground. "Thanks Caboose" called Ice. "Just trying to have some fun since I can't complete my tan or my beer" came the reply.

The attackers were fighting back just as fiercely, though. Taking a quick glance at his lance-mates, Ice saw missile damage and scorch marks on most of them. The quick respite was short lived as a flight of missiles from the _Catapult_ found his mech and left a trail of dents and pock-marks in Ice's torso armor. Unable to do anything about the missile-boats, Ice turned his attention to the _Warhammer_ that was currently using its range advantage to attempt to breach Grogg's armor and put down his _Cestus_. Toggling for his PPCs and gauss rifles, Ice pulled the trigger and felt the cockpit temperature spike a few degrees. One PPC speared through the _Warhammer_'s shoulder mounted searchlight as the other splashed dangerously close to the mech's cockpit; one gauss slug lodged itself in the mech's right shoulder and the other missed wide. A reload wasn't necessary as Grogg's gauss rifle put a shot right into the cockpit and a joyous "BOOM! Headshot!" rang over the comm. channel.

It was still impossible to make out and unit insignia on the attackers, but that hadn't stopped them from making their presence known. So far the Spartans were doing well. Two attackers were down, though all of Thunder Lance had taken some damage. Raven and her light lance had avoided the fire-zone because of their low tonnage and short-ranged weapons. The _Pride_ and the Marik missile lance were now hammering away at each other, thankfully taking the pressure off of the defending Spartans. There were still 14 mechs coming at them though, and most had made it to the shelter of Bakersfield without significant damage.

For a brief moment, it was quiet except for the ongoing missile duel. It wasn't to last. With a renewed vengeance the Marik attackers swarmed out of Bakersfield and up the hill. Ice found himself being rocked by gauss and laser fire from a closing _Tempest._ Now only a few hundred meters away, the _Tempest_ rose on its jumpjets like an avenging angel, spiting out destruction from a trio of medium lasers and a large pulse laser, sending streams of molten armor running off the _Devastator_'s torso and legs. Ice snapped off a full alpha strike at his target and yellow-lining his heat curve. All of his shots hit, piercing deep into the mech's left torso and taking off the left leg at the kneecap. Off balance and out of control, the _Tempest_ landed hard on its side and came to a rest on its back only 40 meters in front of Ice, who calmly pointed a reloading gauss rifle at the mech's head and popped a hypersonic nickel-ferrous slug into the cockpit.

As Ice was offing the _Tempest_'s pilot, he noticed a faint insignia on the mech's upper torso. It was unmistakable. "Skipper, these guys are Marik's own…we've got Knights of the Inner Sphere on our hands. Expect no mercy." The Knights were some of the best pilots the Free Worlds League had to offer. Only the best, or the luckiest, made it through the selection and training process and the Knights answered personally to Thomas Marik himself. They were some of the best shock troops that House Marik had to offer and were famed for their fanatic dedication for achieving their objectives…and the fanatics were swarming the hill.

Grogg's _Cestus_ already had breaches in its armor. The arm housing Mobius' PPC hung useless. Raven's _Centurion _was moving drunkenly, suffering from a gyro shot. Skipper's _Nightstar_ and Ice's own _Devastator_ were starting to show their damage as myomer and internal skeleton were visible in a few locations. Captain Rowland, captain of the _Pride_ came on the channel and warned of another company of mechs coming in over the plain.

A 60 ton _Ostroc_ suddenly rammed into Ice's _Devastator_, blindsiding the mech and knocking it to the ground and firing its quartet of lasers and SRMs into Ice's side torso, making one of his PPCs wink out as something critical was hit. Without warning the _Ostroc_ was engulfed in flames. Its pilot, startled by his or her mech bursting into flames, began to back up, only to have a pair of _Firestarters_ land on top of the mech and jump off, one right after the other, crushing the cockpit and killing the pilot with their duel DFA (death from above).

Ice managed to pull his mech to its feet just in time to see Frog take an alpha from a 100 ton _King Crab_ he had been running circles around. The assault-mech's large laser and pair of AC20s tore the leg right off of Frog's small 25 ton _Dart_, sending the light-mech into a slide that pinned it up against the hull of the _Pride_. "Frog is down! Frog is down!" screamed Ice as he lumbered towards the lethal Star-League era mech that outclassed anything the Spartans had save their _Devastator_ and _Nightstar_.

Grogg too heard the call 'Frog is down' and sprinted his battered _Cestus_ past Ice. Ice watched as his lance-mate slipped past Mobius, who was pouring fire into the _King Crab_ disregarding his heat curve. The _Cestus_ let loose with its two large lasers and pair of medium lasers and crashed into the assault-mech. Using his mech's hand units, Grogg started to punch at the _King Crab_'s torso, shattering armor and leaving holes in the mech's torso. Having let off anger upon his target, Grogg proceeded to fire his gauss rifle into an opening, hitting the reactor and causing the _King Crab_ to automatically shut down before it exploded.

Snapping off a pair of Gauss slugs at an _Atlas_, Ice saw Raven punch out as her _Centurion_ exploded in a small nuclear fireball, taking a _Nightsky_ with it. Even with the firepower of the _Pride_, the Spartans were getting hammered. Ice could see the new company of Knights emerging from Bakersfield. A trio of PPCs shot past Ice's cockpit, slamming into the turret of the company's Challenger X MBT, punching through the armor and killing the turret crew. Ice quickly turned and shot off both gauss and his remaining PPC at the offending _Awesome_, scoring hits, but doing little more than chipping away at the levels of armor that nearly matched his own _Devastator_ when undamaged. Firing off his medium lasers, Ice braced for a return volley that never came.

The _Awesome_ in front of him disintegrated as it was impaled by energy beams and swarms of missiles. A loud crackle of static came over Ice's headset, but then he heard "Spartans, this is Captain 'Rommy' Witters of the Restless Souls. Mind if we drop on in?" Skipper replied "Feel free Captain, we could use a bit of help down here whenever you get a moment."

Under the veritable storm of covering fire, a battered Pentagon-class dropship touched down on the hilltop alongside the _Pride_. From its mechbay emerged five charred and damaged battlemechs and a pair of armored vehicles, led by a one-armed _Berserker_ wielding its large titanium axe. Behind the large assault mech came an _Orion_, _Gallowglas_, _Grasshopper_, _Cataphract_, as well as a Rommel tank, and a Hetzer Assault Gun.

The battle-torn remnants of the Restless Souls charged into the fray, spraying fire into the mass of FWL mechs that continued to pour onto the hilltop. The _Berserker_, piloted by Captain Witters, smashed its giant axe into a FWL _Caesar_, nearly cutting it in half. Pulling her weapon free of the carnage, 'Rommy' Witters continued into the center of the fight, followed closely by her compatriots.

Ice was in trouble, most of his armor was gone and he was starting to run low on Gauss ammunition. No matter how many the Spartans put down, and despite the losses incurred from the combined fire of the dropships, they kept coming in waves. The _Atlas_ he had seen earlier had seen fit to turn its sights on what was left of Ice's mech. Whoever was piloting that mech had already seen fit to dispose of the Spartan's returning hovercraft, which lay as smoldering wreckage amongst the carcasses of mechs.

Lashing out with his remaining PPC and his lasers, Ice managed to gouge a chuck from the _Atlas_'s torso. The return fire slammed into his mech, slicing off the right arm and the Gauss Rifle it housed. Unbalanced by the loss of the limb and so much armor, the _Devastator_ tumbled to the ground. Pulse lasers continued to eat away at the mech's armor and internals. As Ice watched on in amazement, as the Restless Souls' _Orion_, interposed itself between Ice and the _Atlas_. Using this respite, Ice was able to regain his footing, just in time to see his guardian receive one of the _Atlas_'s fists right through his view-screen, killing him instantly. As the _Orion_ crumpled to the ground without its pilot, Ice squeezed off an alpha and hit the override button in response to hearing an automatic shutdown warning. He saw the shots dig into the mech's torso, but not enough to put it down. Almost in slow motion, a large axe burst out the front of what would be the _Atlas_'s neck, sending the skull-head and its pilot tumbling off the mech's body to the ground. "Thanks Rommy, I owe you a drink for that" muttered Ice into his microphone.

"Nex, get on that _Marauder_" came a call from Rommy as she was rocked by said mech's PPCs and autocannon. In response a 70 _Grasshopper_ lifted up on its jumjets towards the called target. As Nex was coming down from his leap, Caboose fired off all three gauss rifles at the offending _Marauder_, right through the piece of air that Nex's jump had just landed him in. The rounds impacted Nex's rear torso, tearing through thin armor. Ice actually saw one of the rounds pass through where the reactor would be and exit out the front of the _Grasshopper_, impacting the _Marauder_'s torso just as Nex's mech disintegrated, knocking over the Marik mech and stripping it of much of its armor protection. "Caboose! You shot Nex, you team-killing fucktard!" came a call over comms.

Taking out the _Marauder_, Ice saw an _Axman_ put its hatchet into the chest of Mobius' _Caesar_ and send him to the ground with a point-blank shot by its LBX 20. The _Axman_ was sent tumbling to the ground under a rain of fire from the dropships before Ice could react. With disbelief, Ice saw Caboose pop the hatch on top of the Alacorn's turret and take a look around. Ironically, the crazy stunt in the middle of a combat zone probably saved his life. A 100 ton _Imp_ hit the turret with its pair of PPCs and large laser, burning through to the interior and killing the two other crewmen manning the guns. The rush of superheated air actually flung Caboose through the hatch and at least 5 meters into the air, before the Hawaiian shirt clad tanker hit the ground next to his beloved tank with an audible "Oof". He could see Caboose slowly pull himself to his knees, take a look at his beloved tank and scream "SHEILA! NOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Moments later, almost as quickly as they had come, the Knights of the Inner Sphere retreated down the hill and across the plain, out of weapon range and into the safety of the outlying hills and ridges. On the battlefield, they left almost half a battalion of their own downed mechs, but not before almost destroying the remnants of the Spartans and the Restless Souls. The Spartan's entire lance of armor was destroyed or knocked out of combat. Frog's _Dart_ was down and his status was unknown, Raven's _Centurion_ had blown up, Mobius's _Caesar_ was laying on the ground unmoving, and Skippers _Nightstar_ was still standing but unmoving and silent after taking a laser hit to the cockpit in the final moments of the fight. The Restless Souls had lost two of their mechs and the Hetzer Assault Gun. The only thing that had saved the remnants of both commands had been the constant and lethal firepower of both dropships. Any mechs or vehicles still standing or capable of fighting had taken severe damage, and it was unlikely Dani would be able to get even a quarter of the survivors up and running at even a sub-par level before Marik came again.

"Grogg, take watch. I'm dismounting to see what happened to Skipper and to talk with the Souls." "Roger that Ice." Parking his _Devastator_ in the _Pride_'s hanger, Ice climbed down the gantry and walked over to Dani. "Dani, do whatever you can to slap as much armor as possible back on any mechs still walking. Get your salvage crews out A.S.A.P. and gather anything that looks good. If a mech looks salvageable and if they have time, haul it in here and strap it down. I'm not sure how much we can fix on ours and we'll probably need replacements." Nodding in acknowledgment, Dani rushed off to supervise repairs.

Exiting the _Pride_'s bay, Ice saw Skipper being rushed inside on a stretcher, still alive, but unconscious, burned, and missing his left arm. Caboose was still crying next to his tank. "It's going to be ok Caboose, she's still drivable and Dani will fix her up personally." Still sniffling, Caboose replied "She was my friend, Ice. She was my friend…" "I understand Caboose. Why don't you personally see to it she gets strapped into a repair bay so that she doesn't get left behind when we get out of here. Get someone to move what's left of the Challenger inside too, I think we can salvage it."

"Frog's still alive! Someone help me get him out of here!" came a cry. Grogg, hearing the news, used the hand actuators on his battered _Cestus_ to move the legged _Dart_ away from the dropship hull, allowing a bruised and bloodied Frog to crawl out the shattered view-screen. "Are you alright, Frog-o?" called Ice. "I think I cracked a few ribs when I hit the _Pride_, but other than that I'm fine, Jake." "Alright guy. Get patched up and do what you can to help our esteemed 'dumpster divers'" said Ice, referring to the salvage crews.

---------------

Jacob (Ice) was sitting slouched over his desk when there came a knock on the door. "Enter." In walked 'Rommy' Witters of the Restless Souls. "Captain Olsen, I am Captain Witters, current ranking officer of the Restless Souls." "Please Captain, call me Jake. Us Spartans tend to avoid the use of rank unless it's a formal ceremony or a serious occasion." "Very well, if we're being informal then call me Leslie. I'm here to discus our 'situation' if you will." "Well our situation doesn't look good here, even with your help. The Spartans have enough pilots for our mechs, but we don't have enough mechs for our pilots, and the ones we do have are barely functional after that last attack. Long range communications have been jammed and Merc Command can't be reached so we can't call on the Lancers or the 4th RCT for any help…not that that help would be able to save us. What happened to your command anyway?"

"Marik swarmed the factory with a full battalion, just like they did here. Two waves from three different directions. Unlike here we didn't have any help from the terrain and it was slaughter. Major Steele and Captain McCray went down early. I'm the ranking remaining officer. We took out maybe 5 or 6 mechs, but almost the whole battalion was heavies and assaults. We were able to push them back enough to get some breathing room, got on the dropships as fast as we could, and got the hell out of there. They managed to shoot down our other dropship with a pair each of mechs and vehicles. What we got here with and what I have now are all that's left of the Restless Souls."

"In that case it's best to get your techs out and scavenge what they can. They'll be coming again and we won't be able to hold." "True, we probably won't. But until we're off this rock, what's left of the Souls will follow your lead Jake." Leslie silenced the protest. "You have the larger remaining command, this is your hill, and you've had more combat experience than I have, I've read your file. Who knows, I'm not even sure if the Souls will be around after this operation, and if we are we won't have the strength to get any favorable contracts. Depending on how this turns out perhaps we can work out an agreement that's beneficial for both of us" she said with a laugh…"

------------------

Devil's Rock

Bakersfield

May 21st, 3058

0715 hrs

The techs for the remains of both units had worked nonstop all night to restore what machinery and weaponry they could. Salvage crews pulled double shifts pulling weapons, ammunition, and the remains of mechs into the bays of the _Pride of Sparta_ and the _Chupacabra_, the Pentagon-class dropship belonging to the Restless Souls. Grogg and his _Cestus_ had even been enlisted to pull pieces and mechs too large for the salvage tracks alone. It had been a long and sleepless night.

Over the course of the night, the lance of support mechs had appeared at the edge of their range and lobbed a few scores of missiles at the hilltop every few hours. They disrupted salvage, and denied sleep to weary mech-jocks. Marik's Knights of the Inner Sphere were assembling again. The remains of the battalion from yesterday's attack could be seen as could almost a complete additional battalion, obviously the group that had attacked the Restless Souls, due to the battle damage that showed on some of their machines.

"Dani, get the salvage crews into the _Pride_, they're getting ready to come our way again" called Ice over the external speakers on his mech. "Rommy, it's Ice. Get all your people ready, they're getting ready to come out again." The salvage crews dropped whatever they were doing and rushed to tie down their last pieces of salvage before scrambling into the pair of awaiting dropships. Making sure that all of crews were inside, Ice backed his_ Devastator_ up the ramp and into the _Pride_'s bay, raising his mech's remaining arm in salute to the advancing Marik forces as missiles began to rain on the hilltop.

With a resounding clang, the bay doors slid shut as Ice backed his battered _Devastator_ into the gantry that would secure it for transit. A loud roar marked the ignition of the main engines and a pair of dropships rose majestically on pillars of flame towards the safety of outer space…

-------------------

Introduced Restless Souls:

Mechs/Pilots:

Captain: Leslie 'Rommy' Witter  
BRZ-A3 Berserker _Mass: _100 tons  
_Tech Base: _Inner Sphere  
_Class: _Assault  
_Chassis: _Defiance Berserker  
_Power Plant: _Pitban 400 XL  
_Cruising Speed: _43.2 kph  
_Maximum Speed:  
_64.8 kph  
(w/MASC) 86 kph  
_Armor: _Durallex Special Heavy  
_Armament:  
_1 Defiance 1001 ER PPC  
1 MainFire Point Defense Anti-Missile System  
2 Sutel Precision Line Large Pulse Lasers  
1 Zippo Flamer  
_Manufacturer: _Defiance Industries  
_Factory: _Hesperus II  
_Communications System: _Neil 9000 with Guardian Electronic Countermeasures  
_Targeting and Tracking System: _Angst Clear View 2A

--------------

Steven 'Nexarim' Akamatsu  
GAL-1GLS Gallowglas _Mass: _70 tons  
_Tech Base: _Inner Sphere  
_Class: _Heavy  
_Chassis: _BLKWL-52gls  
_Power Plant: _Vox 280  
_Cruising Speed: _43 kph  
_Maximum Speed: _65 kph  
_Jump Jets: _Geotec 300  
_Jump Capacity: _90m  
_Armor: _Valiant Lamellor  
_Armament:  
_2 Magna Quasar Medium Pulse Lasers  
1 Magna Starglow Small Laser  
2 Sunglow Large Lasers  
1 Tiegart Magnum PPC (ER)  
_Manufacturer: _Blackwell Heavy Industries  
_Factory: _Outreach  
_Communications System: _Dalban Micronics  
_Targeting and Tracking System: _Dalban HiRez II

_-_---------

Shaun 'Bear' Cooper GHR-5H Grasshopper  
_Mass: _70 tons  
_Tech Base: _Inner Sphere  
_Class: _Heavy  
_Chassis: _Mingh z33/7  
_Power Plant: _280 VOX  
_Cruising Speed: _43.2 kph  
_Maximum Speed: _64.8 kph  
_Jump Jets: _Leviathon Lifters  
_Jump Capacity: _120m  
_Armor: _Durallex Heavy  
_Armament:  
_1 Diplan HD Heavy Laser  
4 Diplan M3 Medium Lasers  
1 Conan/S LRM-5  
_Manufacturer: _Lantren Corporation  
_Communications System: _Allet-C308  
_Targeting and Tracking System: _Allet-T11 

-----------

CTF-3D Cataphract  
_Mass: _70 tons  
_Tech Base: _Inner Sphere  
_Class: _Heavy  
_Chassis: _Earthwerk CTF  
_Power Plant: _General Motors 280 Extralight  
_Cruising Speed: _43.2 kph  
_Maximum Speed: _64.8 kph  
_Jump Jets: _HildCo Model 12  
_Jump Capacity: _120m  
_Armor: _Kallon Royalstar with CASE  
_Armament:  
_1 Mydron Excel LB 10-X Autocannon  
1 General Motors Nova-5 Autocannon  
4 Intek Medium Lasers  
_Manufacturer: _Earthwerks Incorporated  
_Factory: _Tikonov  
_Communications System: _CommuTech Multi-Channel 10  
_Targeting and Tracking System: _BlazeFire Sightlock 

-------------

**ON1-K Orion  
**_Mass: _75 tons  
_Tech Base: _Inner Sphere  
_Class: _Heavy  
_Chassis: _KaliYama Chassis  
_Power Plant: _Vlar 300  
_Cruising Speed: _43.2 kph  
_Maximum Speed: _64.8 kph  
_Armor: _Valliant Lamellor  
_Armament:  
_1 KaliYama Class 10 Autocannon  
1 KaliYama Death Bloom Missile System  
2 I.W.W. Medium Lasers  
1 I.W.W. Class 4 S.R. Missile System  
_Manufacturer: _KaliYama Weapons Industries of Kalidasa  
_Communications System: _Irian Orator-5K  
_Targeting and Tracking System: _Wasat Aggressor Type 5


	3. Part III: Facing the Future

AN: Again, I don't own Battletech, MechWarrior, Red vs. Blue, or anything else that I use in my plot

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2G burn away from Devil's Rock  
May 24th, 3058

It had been three days since the Spartans had been forced to abandon their objective on Devil's Rock. They were tired, battered, and bloodied, but the Spartans had held for as long as could be expected and they had survived. Behind them on the hill and plains on Bakersfield, they had tied up over a battalion of Marik's best pilots and battlemechs in the attempt to retake the mining town.

Their relative success had come with a price though. The Spartans had emerged with barely a lance of functioning battlemechs, and those still able to walk were almost walking skeletons. Raven's _Centurion_ was scattered in pieces across the hillside and what had been left of Mobius' _Caesar_ would have been fit for nothing more than scrap metal. Aside from those write-offs and the loss of the two Scimitar hovercraft, everything else could possibly be repaired with a few weeks in the mechbays. Ice had never been so grateful that Frank had been able to weasel a 2/3rd repair cost and parts clause into their contract for the assault.

It had actually turned out that the Spartans and the Souls were the last units to retreat into orbit. The various regiments of the 4th RCT had begun to withdraw mid-day on the 20th after it was clear they could not hold off the superior numbers of Marik troops. With Marik jamming long-range communications in the south and having eliminated the Shadow Lancers and Mercenary Command almost to the man, there had been no way to inform the remnants of the mercenaries. And so, without word that they were alone and should withdraw, the Spartans and Souls had fought and held off the might of the Free Worlds League army that had been assembled on planet.

Frank had stabilized after the loss of his arm. Thankfully the laser that severed it from his body just below the shoulder also cauterized the wound enough to prevent him from bleeding out in his cockpit. He was conscious now and was slated to have his arm replaced with a prosthetic that would allow him full use of the replacement limb. However, his reaction time with the construct would be down 15 from that of a real arm. It would be enough to keep him from ever piloting a mech into battle conditions again, unless it was the direst of situations.

As lucky as Frank was to have survived, most of Beast Lance, the company's armor assets, hadn't. Salvage teams had been able to recover ten bodies from the vehicles and they were currently in deep-freeze storage until the company set down in a place quiet enough to have an official ceremony for the eight bodies that had no family to be sent back to or that wanted them back.

Within the month the Spartans would arrive on Tigress, in the Federated Suns portion of the Commonwealth, for rest and refit. There, hopefully, the repair cost and part clause of their contract would be honored. With the amount of salvage that the crews were able to recover, Ice hoped that the Spartans would be able to emerge with almost a full company of mechs, but what could be fixed and what could be piloted had yet to be seen.

As he stared out at the emptiness of space, Ice couldn't help but reflect on his fortunes. He had survived the odds as had many of his comrades. The might of the Free Worlds League could not crush them. It was anyone's guess what contracts and what battles the future would hold, but Ice was sure that he would come through the trials of the future with his shield and not upon it…

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Author's Note: There you have it folks, my first full Battletech story. I know it's a bit shorter than some and not as in depth, but I got me feet wet. Expect the sequel to be more in depth and have more to it. Please send me your reviews on my work so that I know if y'all liked it and what, if anything, I should change in my future works. Thank you all.

-AP


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